Fire in the Blood – W.R. Gingell

A princess in a dragon-guarded tower. The prince who is to rescue her. The prince’s ensorcelled dragon. And one enchanted keep that might just be enough to kill them all…

It’s widely known that Princess Kayami Koto is held captive in the Enchanted Keep by a dragon of great ferocity and skill. So when the bold, daring and crafty Prince Akish attempts to rescue her, it seems only sensible to bring his own dragon, Rafiq.

But the Keep’s dragon is only the first Circle in the Keep’s Seven Circles of Challenge, and both Rafiq and the prince will have to keep their wits about them if they’re to survive and rescue the princess.

There to help them is the princess’ serving maid, Kako. But why does Kako seem so familiar to Rafiq? Will she really help them, or does she have her own agenda? Rafiq isn’t sure, but he knows one thing: Kako may be the only person who can free him from his bondage to the prince, and that’s worth any amount of risk.

I’ve loved everything by W.R. Gingell, and this was no exception. Kako and Rafiq were every bit as wonderful as her other characters, and I enjoyed every minute. This is a novella, one of three in the Shards of a Broken Sword novella trilogy which also includes Twelve Days of Fairy (which I also loved and reviewed here and appears to be FREE right now, although I don’t know how long that will last) and The First Chill of Autumn (which I have not read yet). The trilogy is on preorder now, which I would highly recommend. I’m getting the omnibus in paperback as soon as it is available.This book review originally appeared on C. J. Brightley’s blog.